Norway demands proper health funding management in Malawi

Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi Asborn Eidhammer has advised the Ministry of Health to take proper care and management of health funding from donors particularly Norway.

The envoy said this on Monday 16th December, 2013 at a Budget and Planning meeting held in the capital city, Lilongwe.

Eidhammer has however revealed that the support from his country to Malawi will be on operational activities rather than providing drugs as it has previously been.

“The support from Norway will not be for drugs but to operational activities [which] may ease the pressure on the governments drug budgets as we hear that funding earmarked for drugs has been used for other purposes” he said.

Asbjorn Eidhammer:

He emphasized that good financial management is very crucial for continued support.

“Good financial management is crucial for continued cooperation in health. We need to see an improvement. The core challenge from audit reports is the lack of documentation at hospitals” Eidhammer said.

He however lamented that proper documentation of how resources are being used is vital and failing which, it is always difficult to understand how the funds were spent.

He finally urged all government hospitals at both central and district levels to keep records.

Health Minister Catherine Gotani Hara while acknowledging a lot of challenges in her ministry, assured Norway and other development partners that the government will make sure that the donors demands are mate and that everything goes according to plan.